


Eternity is Fleeting

by Snaggle_tooth



Series: Eternity is Fleeting [1]
Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F/M, Possible Character Death, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 21:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11563809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snaggle_tooth/pseuds/Snaggle_tooth
Summary: What would you do if you knew how much time you had left?Would you go skydiving and live every day to the fullest?Spend as much time with those you love as possible?Maybe...But what if you knew how much time was left for everyone else?What would you do then?





	1. Chapter 1

Beacon Hills. It was a supposedly quiet town. Everyone had their own private lives and when our car pulled up in front of the quiet little house surrounded by forest with a SOLD sign out front, I was hoping mine would begin soon.

When I was 12 years old, My mother was diagnosed with Fatal Familial Insomnia. It’s a disease that is genetically passed on from the parent to the child. There was a 50% chance that I would have this disease when I was born, and when my mom was diagnosed they tested me as well. A year later she died and my dad and I were left to pick up the pieces of what was left of our shattered lives. But the worst part of it all wasn’t that I had lost my mom. In her final months she wasn’t the woman I knew all my life and she had become bitter and mean and scared. The worst part was after her passing. I was numb. I didn’t shed a tear as the men in black suits picked her up off the floor in the bathroom. The blood was hard to clean but I spent hours doing so. When the funeral came around I had already turned 14 and the softly voiced apologies and condolences never really seemed all that heartfelt.  But the absolute worst part, was watching my dad walk on eggshells around me. He would give me the world anyway, but it was like he went out of the way to make me feel loved and protected. It was beginning to stifle me. But I had a limited amount of time left.  I wasn’t going to deny him his daughter’s time, especially when we had no idea how much was left.

So, we moved to Beacon Hills. He thought that a change of scenery would do us good. I agreed. I was tired of everyone I knew looking at me like I was a fragile little china doll about to break when the wind blew. He moved us thinking that a new school and a new life would be a good way to forget everything that had happened.

Now I’m 17 and I’m unpacking boxes from the moving truck in front of our new house. It’s bigger than our last one, but only a little. It was a 2 bedroom farmhouse with a big front yard with a wraparound porch and a screen door. The front door was white with a crystal cut glass window. I opened it and the sunlight filtered through, casting rainbows on the ground. I stopped, setting down the box I was carrying and ran back to the car to pull my camera from my backpack. I lowered myself down onto the wooden floorboards of the deck and started snapping different angles. One of the pictures looked like the rainbows were in the shape of an hourglass. It was my favorite. I’d get the pictures uploaded on my laptop tonight and decide if they needed any editing then. My dad walked through the door way smiling to himself in that way he had. We had a shared love of photography. There was just something about seeing the perfect image that we were both intrigued with. Plus I had a small following on deviantart and photo bucket that was asking for the next update.

This was a clean start. No more pitying stares from my friends and people who knew of our misfortune. No more people telling me I should be more worried about the time I have left. And no one poking into my business about my disease. I took a deep breath of the fresh air all around me and let the scent of the pine trees soak into my very soul. I would remember this. No matter what comes in the future, even after death I would remember this moment. That feeling of being free. A  feeling that I hadn’t felt since before mom had been taken away from me, before I was told I would suffer the same fate, and before I was reminded of my death sentence by every pair of eyes that looked at me.

 


	2. Chapter 2

For the first few days we were busy with getting all of our things unpacked, but then my dad got my school paper work finalized and started getting calls in to work. He was lucky to have been able to move here. He’s a neuro surgeon, one of the few who can successfully resection the Insular Glioma in someone’s brain. With a skill like that, he could move anywhere he wanted and people would fly in to see him for consultations. I think that’s part of why he took mom’s death so hard. He couldn’t do anything to save her even though it was his area of expertise.

I spent most of my time around the house straightening up or lazing around on the couch watching TV. The house came with cable, but we had yet to get the internet installation done. I guess my pictures would have to wait to be uploaded. It was a few weeks until school was going to start up so I decided to make the most of the downtime I had. I slept in, watched TV, planned my outfit for the first day… and then realized that the notion was ridiculous because I would change my mind at the last moment anyway. But at least it was something to do. I was starting to go stir crazy and I’d only been in the house alone for a day and a half. So I took a walk. My camera swung around my neck bumping my side gently as I trekked through our new home’s backyard.

When my dad said there was a lot of space here I didn’t think he meant that we lived at the edge of a massive forest with trees so dense that you could see the darkness looming out from its depths… but I was known for being a tad bit dramatic. The trees really weren’t that bad. I had stepped into the border of the forest and the trees twisted their old branches upwards in a way that was wondrous to see. It was an old forest full of history and magic, these trees had been here for quite a while and it certainly seemed like they had a few secrets to whisper to anyone who would listen. I picked my camera up and snapped a few quick photos of the barely there sunshine as it filtered through the trees and into the dusty underbrush. I drug my foot around me in a circle and took a snapshot of the dust as it rose above my head. And for a moment I forgot where I was. The pictures were so beautiful in my own little world; I could only hope that someone else would feel how I did about them. I mean sure I got lots of positive feedback on my pics online, but mostly just people saying things like “wow!” or “that’s really cool”, Never anything about the subject or what their interpretation of it was. I needed someone to share this with and I was sure that if I could just take the perfect photograph then it wouldn’t need to be explained and all I’d have to do would be look proud of the amazing thing I had captured. 

I was so caught up in my own thoughts and the smell and feel of my surroundings that I almost missed the flit of motion in the corner of my eye. I blinked and stared in its direction. It happened again, there was something moving out there. And then I realized that it was oddly quiet. I couldn’t hear any birds chirping or the trees rustling, it was almost as if the entire forest was collectively holding it’s breathe, waiting for something to happen. I turned and started back towards the house feeling a bit unnerved by the sudden silence. I couldn’t explain that movement either. There was no sound made and it was as if I was seeing things… I startled to a stop when I realized that it was possible I was just seeing things… exactly like mom had. But that didn’t make any sense. I had been sleeping soundly for the last few months and I hadn’t been feeling tired at all…

Was it possible that I was showing signs of my curse this early on? I ran home and dropped my camera on my bed, rushed to the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror. Nothing seemed out of place, I was a little red in the cheeks from running, my hair was tousled and fell down my back in a curly tangled mess. My eyes were staring intensely back at me, searching for anything out of the ordinary. That was it! I was simply looking for a problem that didn’t exist… yet. Maybe I was just alone for too long. Granted I liked being alone, but that didn’t mean I didn’t get bored. This must’ve been a product of my overactive imagination and it was simply a matter of getting out of the house more often.

So I texted my dad and let him know that I was going to go to a movie. He responded quickly saying there was some money in a drawer by the kitchen sink and that I could take it to grab snacks at the theater. When I looked there was about 40 dollars in random bills and change. I took $10 just to add to my own money and whatever was left would probably just go back into the drawer when I returned home. I went to the garage to grab my bicycle and started off down the road after locking up. The sun was still up and I was planning on catching a matinee showing of a new movie that was coming out, couldn’t really choose between two different shows either, so I figured I’d have the ride there to think it over.

It was a longer trek than I had expected, but it was easy to get around. The streets in this town were clearly marked and it seemed like there was no end to the people that were willing to give directions… I say this because I had to stop 4 times to ask for help before I found the darn theater. I locked up my bike at the rack in front of the box office and stepped up to the window. There was a girl sitting there on her phone. At first she didn’t seem to notice me but then I feigned a cough and she started up from the screen. She smiled and was very pleasant towards me, asking what she could help me with. I asked her opinion on the two movies since I hadn’t even thought about it on my way through town. She said they were both good but one had more action and the other was more a romance… I went with the action movie. I just needed a distraction without all of the feeling mushy gushy. It was a good choice too. I was absolutely hooked. My friends back home would probably think it was a weird movie but that didn’t matter to me. Besides, I love a good retelling of Frankenstein. Especially when it stars Aaron Eckhart. I was a nut ball for dark broody eyes, big shoulders, and the tough guy act. This is probably why I was 16 and had never had a boyfriend. It didn’t bother me too much, I just had a standard that dorks and jocks just couldn’t meet, that was all.

By the time I left the theater it was starting to get dark but the late summer heat was still heavy in the air. My hoodie was tied around my waist as I meandered through town looking at the small shops in the little touristy part of town. There were toys and knickknacks in the window here and on the other side of the street there was an ice cream shop. In a moment of weakness I stopped and went inside to peruse their selection. As far as ice cream went I didn’t eat very much very often. But when I did it was always a new flavor. I had tried every flavor back home and pretty much every single one at the local gas station. But the flavors here were all new. So with the excitement of a small child, I ordered a small sugar cone with a single scoop of strawberry gold. I guess it was strawberry and honey with peanut clusters? All I knew is that it sounded really good. And I was right. I sat at a table out on the sidewalk with my cone and a napkin as I watched the sun set below the trees. When I was finished, I shrugged my hoodie back on and continued my ride home. Thinking about it, today had been a really good day! I hadn’t seen any more signs of any insanity in myself and I had actually enjoyed the rest of my day out of the house.

I pulled up to the house well after dark and stopped short. There was a police car in front of the house along with my dad’s truck. I quickly dropped my bike in the garage and hurried into the house. I heard voices coming from the kitchen and headed in their direction.

“Dad I’m home!” I announced loudly before entering the room. My dad was leaning against the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in his hand and a smile on his face. A smile I hadn’t seen in a really long time. I relaxed and looked at the other man standing with him.

“Welcome home kid. This is sheriff Stilinsky. He came out to see if everything was going ok with the move.” My dad gestured to the man in the uniform. He was older, like he had seen quite a few things in his time. I shook his hand with a smile and a nod.

“Well, I have to go. I should really be heading back to the station right about now anyway. I hope you and your daughter settle in. I’ll check back in later. See you Richard,” the sheriff said as he turned to leave. My dad waved goodbye as he walked out the front door closing it behind him.

“So who was that?” I asked. My dad had been so casual with him. My dad looked at me and smiled a little. “That was the sheriff. He’s an old friend of your mother and I. I think his son is about your age.” He raised an eyebrow at me in a way that told me he was being weird again.

“Well next time can you warn me when people are going to be over? The cruiser in the driveway nearly gave me a heart attack.” I turned to start on the dishes before dinner when I heard my dad whisper under his breath, “yeah me too kiddo… Me too.”


	3. Chapter 3

The days passed and I settled into the groove of being the one at the house and my dad really started getting busy at work. We were lucky to work so well together. My mom taught me that I had to take care of him. If he wasn’t careful he was known to shave with toothpaste in the morning… so I did all the grocery shopping, the cleaning, and any house work that didn’t require a power tool bigger than a drill. I made sure our household kept afloat in this crazy world we called home. it wasn’t hard, dad didn’t mind leftovers from the night before and I happened to be a good cook. I hadn’t felt the need to go exploring in the woods anymore, and there were no more run ins with my invisible friend. I’d taken to calling that small twitch at the corner of my eye my friend in an attempt to make it seem less scary.

This morning I was sitting in the kitchen on one of the stools munching on a piece of toast and waiting for the electric kettle to finish boiling the water for tea. It was quiet and a bit early for me to be up, but instead of my alarm waking me up in an hour, nature decided to call me early. I zoned out as I stared at the blue led lights in the clear glass of the kettle, and I barely noticed as a car pulled up in the front drive. The knock at the door startled me and I scrambled off the stool and practically fell as I headed towards the door. I opened it quickly as the knocking got louder and stared as the two police officers stared back. It was sheriff Stilinsky and his deputy.

“Can we speak to your dad sweatheart?” he asked. His face was drawn taught and it looked like he was tired and frustrated on a level that would make even the most stressed out college student look like a pansy about finals. I didn’t question him. I just stepped aside, opened the door and yelled for my dad. Luckily he was home at the time. He came running down the stairs in his navy blue bathrobe and those ridiculous lion slippers I had bought him when I was 8 for Christmas. let it be said that I was a fan of expressing yourself and doing what you wanted to do, but I had to stifle a giggle as he walked to greet the police with the bells jingling from the lion manes.

“Sheriff what can I do for you? It’s still dark out. Is there an emergency?” my dad started rapid firing like he did when he was in the ER. The sheriff made a gesture with his hands to calm down and whispered something to my dad. They both looked at me and then stepped outside and shut the door. Well… I suppose I could’ve just gone about my business and gotten my tea and been done with it. Possibly even grilled my dad for details later. But I wasn’t that kind of person. I ran up to my room and slowly opened the window. I felt like a spy on a covert mission to infiltrate enemy lines… before realizing that that was a ridiculous notion and I should really be listening to the conversation happening below me at that moment. It wasn’t easy to hear over the sounds of birds and rustling leaves, but the snippets I got were beyond confusing. Words like urgent and attack were used. This morning… on our property… hunters?... something about someone getting hurt. It was too difficult to hear any more and the door had opened downstairs. I shut my window and rushed back to the kitchen pretending that I had been there the whole time making tea.

My dad hurried to his room upstairs and a few minutes later I saw him rush down the stairs wearing his jeans and a white t-shirt. Wow, he isn’t even worried about looking professional today, I thought as he grabbed his coat and rushed to the door slamming it behind him. I smiled and almost made it to the count of four before the door re opened and he ran to collect his coffee cup from the counter next to me and say goodbye with a pat on my head. My smile faded as I watched the vehicles pull out of the driveway and speed towards town. What could’ve made dad leave the house this early with the sheriff and no suit? It was worth an investigation.

After I got showered and dressed for the day I looked for the non emergency phone number for the beacon hills sheriff’s department and dialed. It was three rings when a young man picked up the phone. I asked for any information he might have on my address and whether or not there were some calls made about the area. He laughed and asked me if I’d been having wild parties and muttered about noise complaints. I half heartedly laughed with him. Despite this not being the emergency line I was still a little nervous about talking to a cop. I generally never spoke to someone with that much authority and it made me feel like I was under a microscope. He said that there was a small history of vandalism near the area several years ago but that nothing had happened recently. So I asked him about the woods near there. He said he’d double check before his voice became strained and he asked if I could hold. I said I would and suddenly there was  strange piano music playing through the phone… sounded like a piano cover of a pop song… lady gaga? But before I had too much time to speculate about the judgment of the sheriff for his holding system or whatever, the young man returned. He told me that there had been an accident with a few hunters too close to some private property but that no other news was available to the public at the time. I thanked him and the line went dead.

Hunters had had problems on our property. And apparently someone had an injury. I wasn’t sure if it was anything to do with someone’s brain or not. My dad was a brilliant doctor. He just happened to be really good with brains. The thought made me smile again. At that point I was sure that whatever had happened would end up being fine. he was my super hero and even though he could be really annoying with his rules sometimes, we did pretty well with each other. I was being silly about all this. When dad got home I could just ask him what happened today. He knew that he didn’t have to censor himself around me. It wasn’t like much phased me anymore… not after mom died.

Hmm… well that was a dark thought. The sun shone through my window hitting a small stained glass humming bird and throwing green and red rainbows around my room. Besides, I thought to myself, school started in a few days and I was determined to have a good year.

My eyes went back to the screen of my phone. I was looking for a hair salon in the area that would do color jobs. As soon as I turned 17 my hair was mine to do with as I wanted, despite much whining from my dad. And I wanted it colorful. Oh yeah, it was my birthday tomorrow. I should look for a good restaurant for me and dad to go to if he could get the evening off. Nothing big, probably just a good burger place or something. Maybe Italian if I was feeling fancy.

That’s when the text came in. it was from a number I didn’t recognize. It read: “Hey don’t worry about not knowing the number. This message is from your dad. He said he wouldn’t be home tonight and so I’ texting you to let you know… my name’s Scott by the way. My mom is working with your dad today. She asked me to give you the message.”

…

Well ok. I guess that made sense but it was still kind of creepy. I texted back: “Scott who? I know a few of my dad’s coworkers, but I don’t know their kids… sorry…”

I waited for a minute and it took what seemed like forever for this kid to text back.

“Scott McCall.”

I replied; “ok thanks Scott. Your mom is Melissa right? That makes sense. She’s really nice. She said you and I are the same age? Maybe I’ll see you at school then.” And with that I tossed my phone onto my bed and headed to my desk for some quality internet game time.


	4. Chapter 4

It was officially my birthday. I had considered myself 17 for the last couple of weeks because my family celebrated birthdays for the whole month. My grandma had started the tradition when my mom was little. Dad told me stories about how he used to think it was ridiculous, but after meeting my mom he slowly got used to it and he turned into a firm believer in the month of birthdays. It’s nothing big. Sometimes it’ll only be a few words of happy birthday every morning, and sometimes it’s a series of small gifts. This year we had been so busy that we really didn’t do anything, and really I was ok with having a normal birthday. It wasn’t normal for me to have a birthday on the very first day of school, but today I guess I got lucky. I slept as late as I could before getting up and jumping into my favorite pair of torrid jeans and my oversized grey sweater that said pick your poison on the front. I twisted my hair into a low side ponytail and put my favorite blue colada lip gloss on with a small amount of eyeliner.

I wasn’t sure what I was going for, but I was hoping that the slightly nerdy look my glasses were giving me would make me as cute as I felt. I wasn’t exactly the most attractive person, but I had long gotten rid of that awkward uni-brow and the acne from my years loving greasy food in middle school. But the weight stuck with me and it wasn’t coming off easily considering I was the type to eat my feelings. Yeah… that greasy food stint really didn’t do me any favors. But this year I was going to take better care of myself and I told myself verbally that it was for me and never for a boy… but I also knew I was lying through my teeth.

So maybe on my birthday I would make a great first impression. One never knows. But I was dressed in my favorite clothes, had done my hair and make up… and my dad came barging in my room with the ugliest tie I had ever seen. It had pink Hawaiian flowers and orange sunbursts on it which I hated that tie since my mom brought it home from a gift shop in florida. He rushed up to me and wrapped it around my eyes. A small part of me wanted to rip it off, throw it in the corner and hiss at it but I knew that it was probably hurtful and better if I didn’t do anything that might make my dad question my ability to handle public school.

So now I was ready for school… but my makeup might need a touch up and I was having a heart attack because my dad was leading me down the stairs, blindfolded and he still hadn’t said anything. I was worried and suffering from a little bout of vertigo seeing as I wasn’t seeing where I was going.

“Uhm… dad? Could you please tell me what’s going on? I’m starting to get a little worried here.” He just chuckled and kept walking me through the house. We took a left and stopped as my dad opened the front door and he gently pushed me onto the front porch and over to the left which is where I was pretty sure we put the porch swing. Suddenly the blindfold was removed from my eyes and there was something black silver and jingly in front of my face with the sun shining through it and literally blinding me. And as soon as my eyes adjusted to the light my entire world started spinning around me.

Sitting there in the driveway was a blue 2010 chevy camaro… I was stunned. The keys were jingled in front of my face again and I gave my dad a hard stare.

“Happy 17th birthday kiddo.” My dad smiled and held out the key ring in front of me. There was a sterling silver key ring in the shape of a D with a small dragon wrapped around it. I almost started to cry and I grabbed my dad in the biggest hug I had ever given in my life. I ran back into the house, grabbed my school bag and ran back outside. I made a severe stumble through the front door and into the screen door. I had made it halfway down the wooden steps before I realized what I was missing. My new car keys. I turned around just in time to see my dad toss those shiny metal pieces of freedom towards me. I caught them and threw my bag into the passenger side of the car and hopped into the cool leather seat. Putting the key into the ignition and cranking it up, I heard the low purr of the engine and I couldn’t help but giggle and give a little squeal of happiness.

I slowly backed out of the driveway and yelled how much I loved my dad to the world. I was so excited to have my very own car, let alone a car this amazing. My dad really had no idea how much this meant to me. I’d gotten my driver’s license when I was almost 16 but I just took the bus to school since we were so close to the school. Now that we lived on the outskirts of town it was nice that I wouldn’t have to take my bicycle to school. I turned on the radio and tuned it to my favorite station. This was literally the best day of my life.


End file.
